Subject: Re: Echelon2 Wiki
From: Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com>
Date: 5/7/11, 16:02
To: Tom Burghardt <antifa89202@gmail.com>

Yes, one can have the general notion that states and corporations are together engaged in any number of degenerate practices in opposition to reformers, but it's something else enitrely to see an example up close, in their own words. That the Justice Department made the introductions is a fact that has gone largely unnoticed, although I am now trying to bring greater attention to it; noted it yesterday here http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/may/06/anonymous-sony, also put in a link to the metal gear wiki. I am doing another op-ed for al-Jazeera today which will discuss the entirety of the metal gear investigation and hopefully prompt further scrutiny. Meanwhile, we have been working with a half-dozen journalists with major publications on this, providing them with what info we can and having them supply us with tips as well which we then provide to others. I believe that this can serve as the model for crowd-sourced investigations in which groups of citizens can use the best tools available in order to uncover wrongdoing and provide the better journalists with a strong starting point by which to prompt public scrutiny into a given issue. Along the way we are compiling a guide, a very rough version of which may be seen here (http://pastebin.com/H1NEgdfj - guide), by which to instruct people on how to start their own efficient online groups to conduct these sorts of investigations and to engage in activism using the most effective methods now available. The final version will incorporate my own ideas with those of two people who were instrumental in launching Chanology and otherwise organizing the original culture of Anonymous into the activist movement it became as that campaign went forward, and who have compiled a rather extraordinary document drawing upon their experience in turning passive internet users into effective agents of information warfare. The end goal is to establish and support dozens of small groups that can organize and act in experimental ways and coordinate for the purposes of fighting back against corrupt institutions that many people see as invincible. The primary weapon will be advanced research to be deployed with an understanding of media dynamics.

The majority of Anons don't have any particular technical skills; rather, some people engage in research, propaganda, recruitment, information transfer (providing encryption software and other relevant tools to those living under dictatorships, etc), DDOSing and defacing of websites run by tyrannical governments and institutions with which they are in league, IRL protests and organizing non-Anons for same, and other such things. A few participants are capable hackers; five people were involved in infiltrating HBGary, for instance, and the vast majority of others involved merely assisted in going through the e-mails and ensuring that the press could make good use of them.

I myself consider research into these "dark" firms to be the most important thing that can be done, particularly if the data compiled is then provided to the media and public in such a way as to prompt greater scrutiny and even make it difficult for such institutions to act with impunity. We consider any development of surveillance software, persona management, attribution methodology, etc to be a hostile act, as all of these things are eventually used by intelligence agencies and contractors against civilian populations in such a way as to further consolidate power among those who have repeatedly been shown to have misused it; as we saw from Team Themis, even "respectable" firms like Palantir will use their tools at the behest of major corporations (Dr. Karp is clearly lying about this being the work of a rogue employee; first of all, at least two employees are known to have been involved; secondly, there is no way that two engineers were permitted to authorize that partnership on behalf of such a client as Hunton & Williams/Bank of America without authorization from the top, which e-mails indicate that they received). So, anything you can do to help research the various companies we're looking at, convince others to help in doing so, and bring this matter to wider attention would be greatly appreciated. If you're not familiar with mindmapping software, you might find it useful insomuch as that we're trying to establish all of the relationships between the contractors and agencies and whatnot - CENTCOM and joint U.S.-U.K command compartmentalize the development of their most powerful apparatus among companies so this will help us to better understand what's being created. http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

On Sat, May 7, 2011 at 2:21 PM, Tom Burghardt <antifa89202@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Barrett,

Great work! Thanks for including my piece on persona management software. I must say, although I've been researching secret state surveillance practices for years, I was truly shocked (though I don't know why!) by the BofA and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's slimy project to target WikiLeaks and left-wing Chamber opponents. Not to mention of course, HBGary and Palantir's deployment of technologies developed for the state, privatized, and then used to target domestic critics. Some country, right?!

In all honesty, while I have serious reservations with Anonymous posting slime-bag's SSNs on the internet, you guys have filled-in some amazing blank spots on the illegal surveillance map and for that alone deserve honor and respect.

I must say, I don't have great technical skills (an understatement!) although I do have a keen political eye when it comes to moves that batter down our political rights (my primary interest, after all!). Needless to say, this crap should be dragged into the light and exposed!

As you're well aware, there are hundreds of firms that do this work in near total darkness. If I can contribute anything, it would be in the research and investigations department. I've created an account and will do my bit. Thanks again for the invite.

warm regards,

Tom Burghardt
Antifascist Calling



--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302